January 19, 2009
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So He sent them a plague. The Black Plague.
ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror... the BLACK DEATH.Bubonic Plague, also known as Black Plague, is spread by infected fleas. The plague is really a little rod-shaped bacteria (bacillus) known as yersinia pestis. The fleas live on rats and other small animals (such as squirrels) and are happy to feast on human blood, passing on the plague at the same time.At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages...
...The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.
The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.
It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.
Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells, or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
One security source said: "This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease."
The disease is rapidly fatal if untreated, causing the patients lymph nodes to swell into painful boils, known as "buboes", hence the name "bubonic plague". In modern times, exposure often occurs from animal control personnel handling dead rodents or accidental exposure on a camping or wilderness trip, and is usually treated successfully. Clearly this is not the case in the remote mountains of Algeria.
Too bad germ warfare is illegal. Sprinkle a few microbes in a few caves, and we wouldn't have to worry about these asshats anymore, dammit.
h/t George Moneo at Babalu
And for some real (gallows) humor check out the comment thread for this topic at Ace of Spades...
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January 18, 2009
"Honestly," Nixon began, "there are a number of racists among the group. I am not one of them. Slavery was and racism is the great moral failing of America. I don't want to see you fail."Hop over to Naked Villainy and read the rest. Presidential heaven appears to be an awfully interesting place....Nixon appeared to take a deep breath and he turned away from Obama and looked out the window towards the Washington Monument. "I don't want to see you fail. I failed because of my own hubris. My failings were avoidable if I hadn't been blind to what I was doing. You and I became president at a unique time in America's history. Deeply unpopular wars were underway abroad. Deep discord infected everything at home. I had a chance for greatness. You have a chance for greatness. You and I share times more similar than you think. I can help you if you want my help. If you don't... Well, I can go back and leave you be."
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January 16, 2009
So far it's a great mix of politics and the personal, the "biz", movie reviews, news, and especially Hollywood's new closet: conservatism.
I can even forgive that they hired la Schlussel. But seeing as how she sucks, maybe they'll drop her, too.
If you haven't dropped by yet, I suggest you start with Charles Winecoff's piece "The Awakening of a Dumb (Gay) American" or Gary Graham's "One Pissed Off Dude."
Take an hour and read through. You won't be disappointed.
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January 11, 2009
Bou's finish time was 06:05:56, a 13:57 mile average and WB's was 07:00:57, a 16:03 mile average.
I am immensely proud of both of you!
That's a wrap, y'all! Now get some rest! You deserve it!
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I still can't believe I crossed and did so without throwing up. ;-)Well, unfortunately, I don't have him locked in the slab a la Jimmy Hoffa, but he is in fact gone. And really, that's preferable.
Because this is Ted Kennedy:
* Actor Portrayal, not an actual Kennedy
Seems he knocked out a flimsy (likely VERY OLD) grill that was covering the entrance to the crawlspace under the main part of our house and found himself a cozy, warm spot to sleep in sometime Wednesday morning.
We left him to his own devices until we could do something about keeping him out, yesterday. We flooded the crawlspace with light and turned on KROQ at top volume.
Teddy left the bar around closing time last night, as he had departed when DH got out of bed at 3:30 to check.
There's now a MUCH sturdier panel covering the crawlspace, which is actually secured to the wall itself, rather than just fit in place.
So why Ted Kennedy? Well, yesterday I lamented that I wished the damn skunk would just LEAVE ALREADY, and Mike replied, "yeah, that's how I feel about Ted Kennedy too." And the name stuck.
Fare thee well, Ted. Just stay the hell away from my house!
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January 10, 2009
... And sprinkle a little fairy dust....
Tomorrow, January 11, two amazing people are going to follow through with a resolution they made in August and run a marathon in honor of people who have been touched by cancer.
WB and Bou are running the Walt Disney World marathon on Sunday as part of Team in Training, raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Together they've raised just shy of $5300 for cancer research.
I'll be thinking of you both and watching your split times from here, and wishing you fleet feet and much success!
Please take a minute to click over and wish each of them well! And maybe enough of us do it, then maybe just maybe, they can fly!
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January 08, 2009
Not surprisingly we barely felt it.
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I think the SnowFolks of No Evil will be hanging around here a bit longer. If nothing else, to remind me how the rest of the world feels (ok, ok, the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. Sheesh, you people!)
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January 04, 2009
Gone Baby Gone: Awesome movie, nice twist ending. But then again, I am a sucker for a good detective movie.
The Simpsons Movie: a 2 hour Simpsons Episode. And not a good one, either.
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Today has been busy. I finally (after 10 days of snot bombs!) felt up to leaving the house. Which I suppose is a good thing since I have to actually go to work again in about 30 hours.
I was shocked that Costco was nearly EMPTY. I mean, there were PARKING PLACES in the lot. We didn't have to stand in line at the checkout, either. I mean, we walked right up and put our vast quantities of meat and some garbage bags and soda right on the belt. I'm still not sure what factors contributed to this. It was 11:30 AM on a Saturday, normally MADHOUSE time at our Costco. I'm guessing it was a combination of post-holiday malaise, hangovers, and too much holiday spending. Whatever the reason, I was loving it. Especially since Costco has been much more crowded in the last several months as people search for a deal. We even ordered our new eyeglasses at the optical department without more than a 5 minute wait for the dude. The longest wait (not surprisingly) was at the gas station.
The dearth of shoppers was also in evidence at TJs, which was our next stop. I was really surprised. This is sort of a wake up and realign with reality weekend in Pasadena, with the Rose Festivities ending and people about to send their children back to school. Again, I was glad to take advantage of the easy parking and short lines.
Later, we watched some of Serenity on SciFi and I realized I can never watch it again with the same appreciation I had before. For two reasons. 1) I still harbor a grudge against Joss for killing Wash. Seeing Penny's death in Dr. Horrible, and my non-reaction to it makes me even more pissed that he killed off Wash. and 2) Nathan Fillion is seriously Captain Hammer now and forever more.
Pathetically profound, no?
I have an awesome smelling pot roast (what little I can smell) going in the crockpot to use up some leftover Guinness and wine from Wednesday.
I had forgotten how much I love to cook. It has been so long since I felt up to really cooking. And yeah, I know the crockpot isn't really cooking, but considering that the best I've been up to for the last year or so, with notable exceptions, involves either the toaster or the microwave, it's a big step forward. I even have some notion of making a few batches of jam tomorrow. We'll see.
I have dozens of pictures to download off the camera and upload. Stay tuned for updates on that, too.
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December 31, 2008
And give your sweetheart a big ol' kiss too!
Wishing you all blessings and joy in 2009!
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December 30, 2008
Because Tammi loves donuts, see, and the best donut place in the whole world is just down the street (well, in the same town anyway) as her new job.
Looks like I just need to wait for her to get her butt out here.
Congratulations! YAY!
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December 18, 2008
I really need to get out those Planet Bob and Tom CDs. "The OJ Simpson Christmas Album" is appropriate for this Christmas, don't you think?
h/t GOC
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December 17, 2008
And on an unrelated note, randomly finding a webpage that calls a jackass from high school a "donkey fucker" is AWESOME *.
Getting ready for the annual holiday trek. Today's task was to clean the house. I hate coming home to a frigging mess after vacation. Even when it is not vacation. Tomorrow we'll start the odyssey of packing. Making my packing list, gathering all the small things up, getting them organized. Figuring out how to fit everything in the car with TWO dogs for the first time, as last year our little Princess was waiting for us in Fresno. At least we're planning on pizza so as to NOT make dirty dishes!
Work sucks, as usual, but I got a project complete that's been hanging over my head since August. Finally. Too bad it ended up the way I suspected: unusable. But that was a probable outcome, and nothing I could have done would have changed that.
Oh well. More later
* Seriously, he's a complete prick. And his job is EXACTLY what you'd expect a smug, nerdy prick to be doing. And that's why he got called such a perfect name.
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December 15, 2008
Either the seals around the sunroof are dead, or someone left it cracked. Likely me.
Fuck.
One seat cover and two bath towels later, the seat was usable, and the headliner and flip-down sunshade on the driver's side were mostly dry. Oh, and the carpet too.
It remains to be seen whether it was negligence or maintenance that caused my morning freak out.
Either way, definitely NOT the way to get my Christmas cheer going.
I had been doing pretty well, too. Christmas cards going out, lights hung all over the house, wreaths, I was getting there.
So I treated myself to Peppermint Mocha #2 while I picked up a $tarbucks gift card for our gift exchange this afternoon.
That helped.
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December 11, 2008
Notice that the "Corporate Tool" one even has a tie. Nice touch, I thought.
Congrats to Sleepy Beth for suggesting the winning trio of names!
BTW, if you don't get it, you REALLY MUST go here.
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December 10, 2008
Boy, CSS is just like riding a bicycle... I haven't played with the site design in a while, and I was afraid I'd screw it up royal. Especially since I went from 2 columns to three since the Snowfolks last came out to play.
They need names, by the way. Any suggestions?
So enjoy the holiday theme. At least there's some snow in my virtual space....
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December 09, 2008
Generally, I love the holidays. The cold weather, fog, smell of pine trees. It just makes me happy. The cards and silly decorations. Like Helen, it looks like Santa Claus threw up in my house most years.
This year, I can barely get up the motivation to finish addressing Christmas Cards. I still don't have a tree. The decorations are down from the attic, but they're just sitting in boxes in the front room.
I have no idea where my motivation went, but I suspect it's somewhere up auto-immune creek. I feel like I am dragging myself through each day, just trying to accomplish what I can. Without my faithful to-do list, I'd be sunk, as I seem to have no mind or memory for the things I need to accomplish. Forget meetings and appointments, without my calendar, I'd be MIA all the time.
Even my students and coworkers are noticing the drag. I'm usually up and about, dropping in to say hello to people, checking up on my students while they're studying. But for the last several weeks, I've been content to sit in my office and try to work. Meanwhile, people walk by and ask my what's wrong. Clearly there is something down.
I mean, it's fucking Christmas. My favorite time of the year. The month I spend the other 11 looking forward to. And I don't seem to be able to give a rat's ass.
I just don't get it. I should be over the fucking moon, right? I mean, in the last 6 months I've lost close to 30 pounds and I am down 1-2 sizes. I have actually been exercising MORE than the recommended amount and LIKING it. For a while I had more energy and the insomnia was gone and things were good. Now, the insomnia is a joke, as I could sleep 15 hours a day and still be tired.
Now, before you all tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing, my Rheumatologist knows all about most of this, and I do have a referral to an endocrinologist so we can try to get to the bottom of this. In February.
Until then, I'm just going to have to keep kicking myself in the ass and reminding myself how awesome life is, and just keep wishing for snow.
I think some snow would help a lot.
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